Here are some reminders
to myself. Hopefully, they are also helpful to some freshmen or
anyone who’s curious:
1.
University is not school.
You
can’t shilly-shally around, take your sweet time and expect to just
roll with it. Trust me, you will be in for a rude awakening. Find a
goddamn studying method early in and stick with it. Flashcards and
quizlets, whatever works for you. The deadlines and exams will draw
closer faster than you think they will.
2.
Your profs are not decoration.
Ask.
Questions. Seriously. And go to office hours if you have any
particular problem to resolve. Make use of that time. A lot of them
will actually be thankful anyone is showing up. Against popular
belief, professors indeed do make a mental note of a lot of their
students. Don’t be one of those 20 people standing infront of their
office for the first time a week before the exam.
3.
Get as much work as possible done until noon.
It’s
12 and you have already studied for three and a half hours? Amazing.
Look, I know, I am not a morning person either. But at least try it
out. Get your sleep schedule in check. It will feel so much better
than to procrastinate until evening and then you HAVE to do it
anyway.
4. If you can explain it, you have understood it.
Done
studying? Bet you’re not. Try explaining yourself the material loudly
like teaching it to a clueless person. Or get yourself a study buddy
and explain your subjects to each other. It’s even better if you
don’t have the same majors. If you are able to explain the topic and
have the other person understand it, you actually know the topic. If
not, you now know where the shoe pinches. It’s also great practice!
5.
You may feel a bit lonely at first.
Okay,
I don’t want to scare anyone. I did find a lot of friends. Especially
at first, everyone is your friend. Because everyone is scared of
missing the boat and feeling left out. There will be so many people
around you. Still – or maybe that’s the reason – you will
probably feel a bit lonely at first. I want to tell you that this is
normal. It’s because everyone is still a stranger to you and maybe you’ve
just moved out! Maybe you are far away from home for the very first
time. I’ve struggled with this. That’s fine! Everything will be fine. You will feel at home
eventually.
Wash your hair. Don’t worry about all those articles online about the best haircare products of 2019 and whatnot, get in, wash it like you usually do, get out. Leave it to air dry, it’s less work for you.
Brush your teeth. Even if you brushed them this morning and are probably going to brush it tonight, do it anyway. Especially if it’s exam time, all that tea or coffee you’re most likely downing (props to you if you only study with water) probably makes them feel kind of gross.
I know most of these lists tell you to run a bath, but let’s face it, for those of you who even have a bath in the first place, the thought of filling that tub and sitting there in complete silence for a couple hours seems like a trek. And ironically exhausting. So instead, just brush your hair, take a nap (set a nice soothing alarm) and once you’ve gotten out of bed, wash your face or at least splash cold water on your face.
CLEAN clean clean clean CLEAN. Easier said than done, but at least start by clearing one messy component of your area; it could be your floor, your desk or your bed. You don’t need to clean and re-organise your entire room marie condo-style for you to actually have a reason to take the time to clean in the first place. A little goes a long way, and you don’t ALWAYS need to do the hard yards ya know.
I would say read a book, but sometimes your brain is melting or buzzing so it can’t really focus on anything lengthy. So instead, find someone reciting a poem online, and just listen to it. I recommend Jeremy Irons and his voicing of tons of T.S Eliot poetry, or Allen Ginsberg reciting his own poetry (Howl is a classic).
If you’re one of those people who drowns their sorrows by listening to music, don’t listen to music!! Don’t reinforce your pain!! So to that I say, listen to a podcast. If the classic podcast genre of true crime is a little too stressful and you’ve already cried twice today, listen to interviews with actors, screenwriters and directors. It can be really refreshing to listen to people you already enjoy the content of talk about their work. I recommend Awards Chatter and Happy Sad Confused.
Stop staring at screens! Just physically sit outside for a bit, you don’t need to go for a jog or do a general workout, just…sit. People-watch, try and memorise the exact scene in front of you, from the mis-en-scene to all the colours and sounds and the way the sunlight feels on your eyelashes. Write it down if you want to, you could even denote a single notebook to your little outdoor descriptions. Or just write on a napkin. To each their own.
Have you eaten today? And I mean something hearty, something that isn’t primarily made out of air and salt. Something that falls under the umbrella of snack does not count; meal is more like it. If not, eat. Preparing food might feel exhausting, but so’s going a relatively long amount of time without something nutritionally substantial.
If you’re feeling emotionally heavily, get out a notebook or even just a scrap of paper, a pen and cry until your eyes are as blurry as can be. With tears down your cheeks, scribble out how you’re feeling. Don’t bother with how neat or messy it is, whether the sentences even stay on the lines, it’s not about being aesthetic. In fact, it’s about being as messy as possible. Let all of it out, and let is act as a physical manifestation of what’s going on in your head. Don’t fight it or deny it, relieve yourself by both constructing and understanding yourself.
“In 1984, when Ruth Coker Burks was 25 and a young mother living in Arkansas, she would often visit a hospital to care for a friend with cancer.
During one visit, Ruth noticed the nurses would draw straws, afraid to go into one room, its door sealed by a big red bag. She asked why and the nurses told her the patient had AIDS.
On a repeat visit, and seeing the big red bag on the door, Ruth decided to disregard the warnings and sneaked into the room.
In the bed was a skeletal young man, who told Ruth he wanted to see his mother before he died. She left the room and told the nurses, who said, “Honey, his mother’s not coming. He’s been here six weeks. Nobody’s coming!”
Ruth called his mother anyway, who refused to come visit her son, who she described as a "sinner” and already dead to her, and that she wouldn’t even claim his body when he died.
“I went back in his room and when I walked in, he said, “Oh, momma. I knew you’d come”, and then he lifted his hand. And what was I going to do? So I took his hand. I said, “I’m here, honey. I’m here”, Ruth later recounted.
Ruth pulled a chair to his bedside, talked to him
and held his hand until he died 13 hours later.
After finally finding a funeral home that would his body, and paying for the cremation out of her own savings, Ruth buried his ashes on her family’s large plot.
After this first encounter, Ruth cared for other patients. She would take them to appointments, obtain medications, apply for assistance, and even kept supplies of AIDS medications on hand, as some pharmacies would not carry them.
Ruth’s work soon became well known in the city and she received financial assistance from gay bars, "They would twirl up a drag show on Saturday night and here’d come the money. That’s how we’d buy medicine, that’s how we’d pay rent. If it hadn’t been for the drag queens, I don’t know what we would have done”, Ruth said.
Over the next 30 years, Ruth cared for over 1,000 people and buried more than 40 on her family’s plot most of whom were gay men whose families would not claim their ashes.
For this, Ruth has been nicknamed the ‘Cemetery Angel’.”— by Ra-Ey Saley
She’s 60 now, she’s still doing activist and advocacy work, and working on a memoir.
- Omg people would totally
ship you two as the love/hate relationship and/or the sexual tension
relationship
- Cliche, but start off as
total rivals
- If you played Quiddich
you would make it your top priority to always distract Draco
- Shameless teasing tho??
- “Hey Malfoy, nice ass”
- ///blushblushblush
“Excuse me?!”
- “You heard me!”
- Shameless catcalling
purposely in front of everyone including Snape and his friends
- But one day you are
genuinely upset and on the verge of tears but you, being stubborn, refuse to
cry in front of him
- “Didn’t you hear me?! Go
away, Malfoy!”
- Offers you a
handkerchief, an awkward hug, and sweets
- A messy, tear stained and
shaky smile
- “Since when did you go
soft, Malfoy?”
- “I should be asking you
the same thing, (Last Name)
- So obviously you two are
pretty close friends now
- He can basically trust
you with anything so he comes to you when he has problems
- But both of you are
extremely stubborn so usually the other person will have to confront the other
about their notice in their change of attitude
- You having to confess
first
- He’d totally try to
confess but end up getting too nervous and backing away
- “Hey Malfoy, you be
interested in going to Hogsmeade this weekend?”
-//smirksmirk “You
wouldn’t be asking me out, would you?”
-”Pffftttt as if????”
- You totally were asking
him out
- He said yes in the most
teasing way with a signature smirk
- You were very proud of
your relationship because there was no denying Draco was just hot
- But like he was a
complete sweetie
- If you were sick he would
always freak out and if he saw you were struggling in classes he would
discreetly leave you his study notes in the most unexpected ways like
“accidentally” mixing his 100% amazing notes up with your slightly pitiful ones
- And ugh he was just an
amazing partner to have???
Slytherin Reader
- Not gonna lie you two
were already friends
- Like you would gang up on
people you shared a hatred for always
- Sometimes people would
even avoid you two in fear of being completely roasted™
- It was like “o shit here
they come rUN BITCH RUN N Y O O M”
- But no seriously you two
would diss whoever and whatever if they got on your nerves
- And obviously he would
ask you to the Yule Ball
-“You’re asking me,
Malfoy…?”
-“Of course. Who else
would I ask? Parkinson?”
- And like whenever the two
of you would enter the ballroom all eyes would immediately just turn to you two
- Because lets face it, the
two of you could stop traffic
- You would both sneak off
after some stuff had died down in a dark and empty corridor
- The two of you would just
be chatting by a windowsill whenever out of nowhere he would just kiss you
- You were like talking
about class or something and he would just press his lips against yours
- And you just melted
- Because you could feel
how shaky and nervous he was
- But he was so gentle
- And omg you cuties
- Tbh no one is surprised when you enter the Great Hall hand in hand
- Blaise catcalls
- Pansy snarls
- Crabbe and Goyle don’t really care
- But you and Draco are too absorbed in the little world that has formed around you to notice
Ravenclaw Reader
- The only reason he knew
you is because you were the person who always just happened to score one or two
points above him on every. single. assignment.
- Like he would be bragging
in class about his grades when the teacher would speak up like
-“Obviously I have the
best test scores in here but that’s not surprise—“
-“aCTUALLY Mister
Malfoy, Miss (Name) (Last Name) scored just one point above you…! So you’re
wrong lol”
- And he would just be
appalled
- And then he would
basically track you down and discreetly ask about studying techniques
- And you’d just be like
“So Mister “I scored one less point than someone” wants to hear about my
studying techniques? I don’t think so, Second Place.”
- He’d do an unintentional dramatic gasp
and like press an offended hand to his chest
- And you’d just walk away
with the most smug smirk ever
- After that incident he’d
badmouth you almost as much as he badmouthed Potter
- Almost
- Because after doing some
“researching” (snooping) and learning more about you from observations and
sources he’d find out that you’re actually really intriguing
- And he might have had the
smallest, tiniest crush on you
- But he’d deny it of
course
-the little bastard
- But like he actually
finds the small things you do entertaining
- For example, he might
have ‘accidentally’ showed up at the library every day you did and just happen
to notice how you would play with your hair or doodle whenever you studied
- One day, he discreetly bumped into you
playing it off as he was too busy reading
- You decided not to tell
him that his book was upside down
-“Oh, watch where you’re
going… Anyways, if you’re here, mind helping me with this subject?”
-“Draco Malfoy? Asking for help? Who would have known?”
- But you did end up
helping him
- And after taking multiple
deep breaths, he finally got the courage to ask you out
- And you told him “maybe
if you can score higher than me on the next potions test”
-gUESS WHO STUDIED THEIR
ASS OFF
-MALFOY DID
Hufflepuff Reader
- Tbh he had no idea who you were
- And honestly he didn’t even care
- But that all changed when this happened
- So you were focusing on anything other than him while walking down the hallway,
- And accidentally you bump into him
- All of your stuff falls to the ground
- And he just shoots you a nasty glare and continues walking
- You are simply picking up your things when you hear “Lousy Hufflepuffs. Can’t do anything. No wonder that Diggory died. As if a Hufflepuff is brave enough to enter that tournament and come out alive.”
- You stop dead in your tracks. “What did you just say..?”
- He turns back to you with a scoff
- You run up in front of him and get in his face. “What the hell did you just say?! Tell me!”
-”I said that all of you Hufflepuffs are weak and pathetic. Diggory never had what it took to enter the-”
- But he was cut off by a punch to the face. His nose was bleeding
-”Don’t you ever start saying shit like that when you, yourself, will never be better than Cedric! At his worst, he is still better than you at your best. Maybe you should think about this before speaking unless you want to be bloodied by a “lousy” Hufflepuff again.”
- He is left in sh o ck
- From then on, whenever he sees you his entire face goes red and he hides himself
- Because maybe your courage and great left hook made him form a crush
-somehow
- He leaves a note on your desk which is from “your secret admirer” (cause he’s cheesy like that) telling you to meet him outside at night
- Your first reaction when you see him is not a positive one
- He explains that he only said that about Diggory is because he tries to look impressive in front of his friends (Which isn’t a lie) and that he sincerely apologizes and mourns for your House’s loss
- After some coaxing, he is forgiven
- You sit and chat for a while and you are pleasantly surprised when you find out he’s actually pretty cool
-At the end of the night, he asks you on a date
- And with a hesitant yet bright smile, you accept
It took me days to get time together to read this whole thing, but I have finally done it.
This is it. This is the one article you need to read to understand just what is going on in Britain, America, and Russia.
This is the one piece of writing you need and can use to reference the very chilling reality that these countries have been tied together in the machinations of just a few billionaires, and how Facebook and Google tie in insidiouslyi.
I keep telling y’all to stop fucking with facebook but that’s moot now. It’s so much bigger than this.
“Was that really what you called it, I ask him. Psychological warfare? “Totally. That’s what it is. Psyops. Psychological operations – the same methods the military use to effect mass sentiment change. It’s what they mean by winning ‘hearts and minds’. We were just doing it to win elections in the kind of developing countries that don’t have many rules.”Why would anyone want to intern with a psychological warfare firm, I ask him. And he looks at me like I am mad. “It was like working for MI6. Only it’s MI6 for hire. It was very posh, very English, run by an old Etonian and you got to do some really cool things. Fly all over the world. You were working with the president of Kenya or Ghana or wherever. It’s not like election campaigns in the west. You got to do all sorts of crazy shit.”“
This is not just a story about social psychology and data analytics.
It has to be understood in terms of a military contractor using military strategies on a civilian population.
Us. David Miller, a professor of sociology at Bath University and an authority in psyops and propaganda, says it is “an extraordinary scandal that this should be anywhere near a democracy. It should be clear to voters where information is coming from, and if it’s not transparent or open where it’s coming from, it raises the question of whether we are actually living in a democracy or not.”
“And it was Facebook that made it possible. It was from Facebook that Cambridge Analytica obtained its vast dataset in the first place. Earlier, psychologists at Cambridge University harvested Facebook data (legally) for research purposes and published pioneering peer-reviewed work about determining personality traits, political partisanship, sexuality and much more from people’s Facebook “likes”. And SCL/Cambridge Analytica contracted a scientist at the university, Dr Aleksandr Kogan, to harvest new Facebook data. And he did so by paying people to take a personality quiz which also allowed not just their own Facebook profiles to be harvested, but also those of their friends – a process then allowed by the social network.”
Read this. Read the entire thing. It will take you a while and it’s a lot to digest but you need to know.
Signal boost.
@sunderlorn we’re finally completely united in propaganda, isn’t that nice!?
You know what the Green Heron is basically the best heron because it is like 90% neck so when it is all folded down it looks like a giant head with wings and legs
